


It Goes Electric, Wavey When I Turn It On

by patster223



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Ableism, All your favs are autistic, Autistic Angus McDonald, Autistic Magnus Burnsides, Autistic Taako, Gen, Stimming, Taako is Angus' wizard dad, Taako is also unlearning a lot of shit, internalized ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 22:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8771902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patster223/pseuds/patster223
Summary: Taako can admit when he’s fucked something up. Okay, he can’t, but he can at least try to make it up to Angus. Neurodivergent wizards gottta stick together, after all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A Candlenights present for Ro, who brightens my days even more than a boy detective could.

 “Why did I agree to give the kid magic lessons?” Taako sighs as he dramatically flops onto the couch.

Magnus only hums absently as he continues to carve his—ugh, is that another duck?

“Either listen to my dramatic entrances or at least have the decency carve _any other_ animal,” Taako says. “A cow, a horse, _anything._ ”

Magnus huffs. “I’ll have you know, I _can_ carve anything, I just choose to-”

“And now we’re talking about wood carving instead of the shit I _wanted_ to complain about,” Taako groans. “I don’t storm into rooms for my own benefit, you know.”

“You don’t?”

Taako drapes a hand over his face. He should’ve known that it’s useless trying to have a conversation with Magnus when he’s in the wood carving zone like this.

“Just ask me what’s wrong,” Taako sighs.

“What’s wrong?”

“Angus is being impossible!” Taako says. “He keeps stimming instead of spellcasting—one minute he can do a perfectly competent mage hand and the next he can’t aim his wand because he’s—flapping his hands or whatever.”

Magnus finally sets down his wood carving, if only so he can raise a patchy eyebrow at Taako.

“Taako, you literally chew on the handle of your umbra staff. Why do you give a shit how Ango stims?”

“Yeah, well, I’m level 12, baby, I can do what I want. The kid almost burnt my hair off! Besides, you can’t talk either—it’s a miracle that you stim with wood carving instead of chewing the handle of that blood-soaked monstrosity you call an axe,” Taako mutters.

He wrings his hands, because, well—maybe Magnus has a point. Taako _remembers_ being Angus’ age. He remembers how bright, flaring emotion would course through his body like _magic_ —except instead of manifesting itself in spells or enchantments, it flowed through his flapping hands and twirling body.

Taako also remembers being chastised in the kitchen for almost knocking things over and in the traveling wagons for being too disruptive to the other passengers. Some things you just grow out of.

Magnus leans forward and hands Taako the unfinished duck. Taako, much to his own chagrin, finds his hands abandoning their wringing to trace the grooves and dips in the rough wood.

“Julia,” Magnus says, clearing his throat. “I don’t think she knew what to do with me when we first met. I was always moving and always talking—always rushing in, I guess.”

“Never would’ve guessed,” Taako murmurs, but otherwise lets Magnus be. He’s talking about Julia, after all.

“Yeah,” Magnus snorts. “I haven’t changed much. She, uh, I don’t think she minded though. She figured out that if she put a piece of wood in my hands, I could actually listen to her instead of interrupting all the time.”

Taako frowns. Even having found this—okay, yes, it’s a family, whatever—group of friends at the Bureau, he still can’t really imagine what Magnus is talking about. Can’t imagine someone accommodating his behaviors instead of trying to just—get rid of them.

“Pretty subtle of her,” Taako says, rubbing the duck between his hands. “Not very ‘Magnus rushes in’ though…”

Magnus laughs. “Don’t tell anyone or they’ll have to edit my character sheet!”

“Yeah, to lawful _boring._ ”

Magnus sticks his tongue out, and—before Taako can even blink—he’s snatched the duck back. Damn those rogue reflexes.

“Go rush in, chaotic idiot,” Magnus says as he returns to his carving. Taako would whack him with his umbra staff for the insult, but—too far away. And he’s not sure if it’s even meant as an insult anyway.

“I hate rushing in,” Taako mutters, but he drags himself to his feet and goes to search for his damn wizard boy.

When Taako finally finds Angus, it’s in the cafeteria where they’d had their first lesson. Just like then, it’s fairly empty, and just like then, Taako is crabsolutely _dreading_ this.

“Hey, kid,” Taako sighs as he approaches Angus’ table.

“H-hello, sir,” Angus says, sitting up a bit straighter. “Um, at our lesson today, I’m sorry if I-”

“Wait,” Taako says, holding a hand up. “Don’t apologize. I should probably be the one to…I just wanted to…Angus, I’m…”

Fuck. Fuck. Taako can’t do apologies. He’s already fucking this up. _Fuck._

Taako groans loudly and runs both of his hands down his face. Whatever. If he can’t apologize, or express any of his fucking emotions, then—he’ll find a work-around. He’ll just do it. Taako rushes in.

“I forgot something during our lesson today,” Taako says, forcing cheer into his voice.

“Oh?” Angus says, already perking up at the mention of a new lesson. Pan, what a nerd. What a _wizard._

“Yeah,” Taako says. “You know, Angus, as wizards, we focus a lot on our wands. And wands are great! Mine doubles as an umbrella. It also maybe has an evil spirit inhabiting it—it hasn’t really come up in the plot yet, so I’m not sure. Yours has a star on it—it’s kind of Sailor Moon-esque—but, you know, that’s your style. But wands aren’t _all_ there is to magic.”

“I know, sir,” Angus says. “That’s what you taught me on our first day of magic lessons—wands are just a conduit for the magic that’s already inside of us!”

“Yes,” Taako says, gritting his teeth as he loses his train of thought. “Please don’t interrupt me mid- mentor monologue.”

“Oh—sorry!”

“Anyway,” Taako says. “The point I’m trying to make is that wands and books aren’t everything. If what’s inside of you is different than what’s in those magic, uh, uh, uh, books that you’re always reading, then how you do your magic is going to be a bit different too. And that’s okay. I mean, god—I learned magic on the back of a wagon so I could transmutate mushy apples, I think I’m a textbook case!”

“I suppose that’s true,” Angus muses. “But when I feel the magic coursing through my little boy arms, sometimes my hands just flap a little while I’m casting and then I can’t aim the spells right and-”

“Yeah, I have the singed hair to prove it, kid,” Taako says. “But hey, we’ll work on it. Maybe find a different stim for when you’ve got the wand in your hand—I think Magnus could make you a chew necklace, if you don’t mind it being shaped like a duck. _But,_ in the meantime, I know something that only wizards with the weakest of arm muscles who just _hate_ holding up their wands know.”

Angus stares at Taako, his eyes wide. “What? What is it?”

Taako grins. “AOE spells, cupcake. Some of this shit doesn’t need to be aimed at all.”

“Oh—but of course! How did I not think of that?”

“Like I said, kid, ditch the textbooks—Taako’s got your back,” Taako says with a wink. “Now, how about you hit me up with a Fog Cloud.”

Angus sighs a little—like he always does when Taako complains about books or comes up with a stupid plan. Or both. Taako can admit that it’s usually both.

“In the cafeteria, sir?” Angus says. “It’s right before lunch. Doesn’t that seem a little irresponsible?”

Taako snorts. “Oh lord! If I contemplated how responsible I was being every time I cast a spell, I wouldn’t cast _any_ spells, pumpkin.”

“Your logic is—kind of sound, I guess,” Angus says, but he pulls out his wand anyway. He shakes out his arms, takes a deep breath, and furrows his eyebrows as he concentrates.

The thing that Taako adores about Angus—and will absolutely never tell him about—is that it’s so easy to read Angus’ cues—maybe because so many of them used to be Taako’s. But Taako can just _tell_ when Angus is excited, when he’s got his magic juice going—because that’s when the kid’s hands shake and twirl; it’s when his body practically vibrates with excitement and _magic._

It’s a palpable energy, one that makes Taako shift to the tip of his toes and makes him want to clap with glee. And, hell, when a more than competent Fog Cloud seethes out of the tip of Angus’ wand, Taako actually _does_ clap—because that is his _boy!_

“Yeah!” Taako says, as fog fills the room. “No aiming required, take _that,_ fucking wizard textbook writers! How do you like us _now_? Aiming is for neurotypicals!”

“I did it!” Angus says, jumping up and down a little.

“ _Who_ did it?” a surly voice says from the fog. “All I wanted to do was get lunch, but the cafeteria is filled with this awful smoke!”

“Leon,” Angus whispers. “Taako, we shouldn’t have done that…”

Taako thinks it’s _hilarious,_ actually—but Angus probably wouldn’t enjoy rubbing it in Leon’s face as much as Taako would, so Taako supposes he can hold it in.

Ugh. _Now_ who’s being lawful boring?

“Angus,” Taako says. “Listen closely. I have one more piece of wisdom I’ve picked up over the years—the most important one of all, actually.”

“Taako, is that you?” Leon calls.

Angus winces. He inches closer to Taako. “And what is that?”

“It’s that Taako’s good out here,” Taako says sagely. “Good anywhere away from here actually. Run, kid, run!”

With that, Taako sprints away from Leon’s voice. He hears Angus follow behind him, stumbling and laughing nervously. With Angus in tow, they move pretty slowly, and it takes them a while to navigate the fog while _also_ avoiding Leon’s ire, but it's okay—Taako’s getting better at finding work-arounds these days.


End file.
